1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a ball barrier assembly use in sports training and for practicing, more particularly to a ball barrier assembly that can stand stably on a ground surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a first conventional ball barrier assembly 1 is shown to comprise a looped barrier frame 11, a support frame 12, and a barrier fabric net 13. The barrier frame 11 and the support frame 12 are made from flexible materials, such as plastics and memory alloys. The barrier frame 11 has a periphery that forms a ball projectile opening 14. The support frame 12 is connected to the barrier frame 11, and is adapted to be disposed on a ground surface. The net 13 is connected to the barrier frame 11, and is adapted to collect a ball that passes through the opening 14 of the barrier frame 11 and that impinges upon the net 13.
For storage, the barrier frame 11 can be twisted at the same time, as shown in FIG. 2, to form a small disc with a size equal to one-third of the area of the opening 14, as illustrated in FIG. 3.
FIG. 4 illustrates a second conventional ball barrier assembly 3 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,527. The ball barrier assembly 3 includes two leg frames 31, a curved barrier frame 32, and a barrier fabric net 33. The leg frames 31 are adapted to be disposed on a ground surface. The barrier frame 32 has opposite ends 321 connected respectively to upper ends 311 of the leg frames 31, and cooperates with the leg frames 31 to form a ball projectile opening 34. The net 33 is loosely draped on the barrier frame 32, and is adapted to impinge a ball that passes through the opening 34, such that the ball falls on the surrounding area of the leg frames 31.
The construction of the aforementioned conventional ball barrier assemblies 1, 3 attains the purpose of impinging a ball via a net. However, during actual usage, the support frame 12 and the leg frames 31 of the conventional ball barrier assemblies 1, 3 cannot stably support the barrier frames 11, 32 on the ground surface due to lack of support.
Referring to FIG. 5, a third conventional ball barrier assembly 2 is shown to be substantially similar to the ball barrier assembly 1 of FIG. 1. The ball barrier assembly 2 includes a looped barrier frame 21, a lower support frame 22, a rear leg rod 25, and a barrier fabric net 23. The barrier frame 21 and the support frame 22 are made from flexible materials, such as plastics and memory alloys. The barrier frame 21 has a periphery that forms a ball projectile opening 24. The support frame 22 is adapted to be disposed on a ground surface. The rear leg rod 25 is connected to the barrier frame 21 and the support frame 22. The net 23 is connected to the barrier frame 21, and is adapted to collect a ball that passes through the opening 24 of the barrier frame 21 and that impinges upon the net 23.
While the second ball barrier assembly 2 has a rear leg rod 25 for supporting the barrier frame 21, however, the rear leg rod 25 cooperates with the support frame 22 to form only two supporting points for the barrier frame 21, which is still not enough to stably support the barrier frame 21 on the ground surface.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a ball barrier assembly capable of overcoming the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art.
Accordingly, a ball barrier assembly of this invention comprises a looped barrier frame, an upright rear leg rod, a support rod unit, and a barrier fabric net. The looped barrier frame has a lower base portion and an upper frame portion. The lower base portion is adapted to be disposed on a ground surface, and is formed with at least two linear segments. The upper frame portion has a curved intermediate segment and two end segments. The two end segments extend downwardly from the curved intermediate segment, and are connected to the lower base portion. The upright rear leg rod has an upper end and a lower end. The upper end is connected to the curved intermediate segment of the upper frame portion of the barrier frame. The lower end is adapted to be disposed on the ground surface so as to cooperate with the linear segments of the lower base portion of the barrier frame to form at least three supporting points that are to be disposed in a triangular formation on the ground surface. The support rod unit interconnects the lower end of the rear leg rod and the lower base portion of the barrier frame. The barrier fabric net has a peripheral portion connected to the barrier frame, and is loosely draped on the barrier frame so as to form a lower section that extends to the ground surface, and that is adapted to collect a ball that passes through the barrier frame and that impinges upon the net.